If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Dieting 101

I thought it would be good to start a thread where we could disseminate dieting advice. I was thinking that if we shared dieting facts and refuted dieting fiction it would help us all get our heads around this tricky subject. It would also be good if people could give advice as to what works for them re: dieting. This could be routines you follow or mantras you tell yourself. Any hints and tricks that help really.

I would like to start with a question. I have my own views as to the answer, but am late for work so will add it this evening, but thought it would be good to post this so anyone who has some thoughts can reply.

Why do we tend to lose a lot more in the first few days of a diet, and why do we tend to lose a lot less in the final stages of a diet?

Look forward to a discussion on this. Any other questions, answers, discussion points please add.

Thanks for the response Marcusrichard. I'm sure there's some truth to that. I think there are probably several aspects that add together to get to the truth.

For example I've been told the big initial weightloss is due to how the body stores it's fuel. Some of it is stored as glycogen which is easily accessible. Unlike the fat store which is not so easily accessible, glycogen is stored with approximately it's own weight in water. This means for every 1lb of glycogen you lose, you lose 1lb of water. Once the glycogen goes the body accesses its store of fat, so from that point on pretty much each lb you lose is a lb of fat.

I think part of the reason it slows down even more near the end is that you are simply smaller, you need less energy to do things so if you eat the same you will lose weight more slowly. Also over time we probably get a bit lax with checking portions etc so we are probably eating more and using less because we are smaller, so unless we increase our exercise to compensate we will lose weight more slowly.

Yes, you're quite right, those big early losses are mostly water/glycogen, hence their size, and then they slow as they become proper body fat losses, and as you say, your body adapts to the new regime, your metabolism slows, and it gets harder! I feel like it's taken me ages to get the last few stone off, and every time I put my weight lower on MFP it gives me fewer daily calories, lol. What you also have to bear in mind, and many people don't, is that once you've lost weight, you can never go back to eating the same amount of calories as someone who's never been overweight - you always have to eat around 20% calories less, for life, or the weight goes back on - bummer!! xx

I think Marcusrichard is spot on about the processing. As I understand it, because the refined starch enters the bloodstream as sugar too quickly, it triggers the production of insulin. The insulin prompts the body to convert the sugar to fat. This unfortunately means there is not enough easily accessible energy for the body to do its normal daily tasks so the signal comes from the brain that you are hungry so you eat more. If this is more refined starch, which it often is because the body becomes almost addicted to it, the cycle continues. This is why very often people feel hungry a short while after a MacDonalds etc. Because it takes more time for more complex carbs to be converted to sugar; the sugar, insulin, exercise cycle remains in balance. The body has the fuel it needs to work, the hunger signal is not triggered too soon and there is less sugar in the blood to be converted to fat.